Wednesday, January 13, 2010

New jewel-tone lentil beads

I finally posted my new lentil beads in our Etsy shop.  I have 2 styles so far -- "Baroque" and "Clam Shell".  Both types are available in 4 different colors.

  

  

Every so often an idea pops into my head and I can't wait to run to my clay table and try it out to see if it will work.  Sometimes it doesn't turn out exactly like I imagined so my technique needs a little tweaking.  When I had the idea for these beads I had to test my idea out right away and was so pleased when it actually worked and came out like I hoped.  I had to make my moulds first of course and then testing out the moulds so my beads are consistent in shape and size.  Then the fun part of applying the various mica powders which give the rich metallic jewel-tone colors that I love.  I haven't done a new tutorial in a while so I'm working on a new one for some more inspiration and ideas on how to use these beads.

2 comments:

Beadcomber said...

Nicely done, Carolyn. Are they two sided? i can see them multi-coloured for reversable bracelets...

2 Good Claymates said...

Thanks Tina, The beads are two-sided. The one style is identical on both sides. The clam shells are textured flat on the opposite side so they sit better. They look gorgeous as a bracelet but for reversible I prefer 2 holes so that they don't flip over while wearing and then each side can be different. Will have to work on those next -- yikes! more to do! lol